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Sunday, 30 September 2012

MCC All About Zentangle - Wk 2

In the second week Marie has been showing us the principles of shading & how to make a small wallet for keeping our tiles in.

I had to improvise a little making my wallet: I used coloured cardstock instead of double-sided patterned paper & a velcro strip instead of a Tombow Fastener Tab.

Through Marie's teaching I'm learning how varying the softness/hardness of the graphite pencil used gives different results when shading. I've been quite astonished by how effective the graphite shading is in adding dimension & life to the tangles especially when combined with inked shading techniques (as in the Coil tangle around the Fishnet top right below).

The full realization of this hit me when I set myself the task of using ONLY inked shading techniques in the next tile. I was rather suprised how difficult I found this to do for I kept reaching for the pencils & the limitation of using ink alone actually hampered me in my choice of tangles. Proof really to me that I'm not so frightened of pencil shading any more - a significant milestone to reach.

That tile wallet is very neat, the 'Z' button is a nice finishing touch. I am so pleased that you are enjoying doing the shading, I can see what you mean about filling in with ink for the shading on the twisted Coil tangle, it gives a great 3d effect and I love how the other tangles are either cushions of pattern or have shadows. Your 2nd tile using only inking is a revelation and although you feel it has hampered you I think you have achieved a brilliant effect, a little 'Escher' in perspective. My eye sees the 'castle wall' on different levels depending on how I relate it to the background. Is the 'rain' falling on the castle walls or is the castle wall holding back the rippling water? The shadow effect increases that feeling as the dark pattern is a mirror image but I keep seeing it as a shadow as well. I also enjoy hunting out your initials, hiding in plane sight! Super blog Paula, thank you so much for sharing.